bangalore journal

So this time, it’s Karnataka cuisine. While interviewing Sakuntala Narasimhan, a senior journalist, she said there is dearth of restaurants that serve authentic Karnataka food in the city. So Citizen Matters did some digging. Mavalli Tiffin Rooms, popularly known as MTR, is a vegetarian restaurant that came up in Bangalore in 1924. It also claims to have introduced the popular South-Indian breakfast item, Rava idli. The legend goes that during the world war II, there was a grave rice shortage in India, MTR experimented with Semolina (Rava) instead of rice to prepare the idli batter. And as you know, it…

Who doesn’t like being around a friend? Around someone with similar likes perhaps? Or in whose company we bloom to our fullest or even someone who offsets our own quirks? Well, as it turns out this may be a natural instinct for all living things, including plants. Maybe we've learnt this behaviour from plants? Watch them grow in the forest and you find they thrive in the company of some and are unable to in the presence of others. It is interesting to understand how this works and use it to the advantage of all plants in your organic garden.…

Are you a sneaky mum? The type who cannot think of kneading atta without mashing dal or spinach into it? Or pasta sauce without pureeing carrots? If you do, chances are that like me you live with a fussy eater. Food in our house, at least for the brat, comes with hidden ingredients. Veggies and greens are boiled and mashed to get into the atta, parathas are stuffed with whatever can behave itself inside a paratha without peeking, pasta sauces (even store bought ones) are revved up with pureed veggies, the list goes on... Kids are fussy eaters. Pic courtesy:…

In 1967, Suresh Shah, a Gujarati by native, started Sapna Book house in Majestic, around 100 square feet. Today the same book store is set up in a multistoried building in Gandhinagar. It is claimed to be India’s largest book mall by Limca book of records as well as India book of records. Nitin Shah. Pic: Abhishek Angad And 45 years later, it opened its eighth book store in Karnataka and 6th in Bangalore. This is in the time when book stores like ‘crossword’ recently shut down one of the stores in Bangalore. This may be attributed to the age…

Ramakrishna B V, 75, is one of the 16 nominated councillors in BBMP now. In April, just before Mayor election, he was in news for alleging that the candidate (current Mayor) D Venkatesh Murthy had encroached Civic Amenity (CA) sites.Ramakrishna is Joint Secretary of Abhyudaya, a Federation of South Bangalore-based RWA. He had retired as Production Engineer in HAL, and is also President of Radha Krishna Layout RWA now. He, along with other nominated councillors - all BJP supporters - had taken oath on July 2nd and were part of the budget discussions. According to Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act, state…

Achala Paani has come to be known as the angel that comes to the rescue of street dogs. 27-year-old Achala, runs ‘Let’s Live Together’ - an organisation providing a platform for puppy adoption. She strongly believes in adopting a puppy from the street and saving a life than buying one. Achala Paani. Pic courtesy: letslivetogether.org How did you come up with the idea of Let’s live Together?I have volunteered for a lot of organisations all these years. And as a final year project for my advertising course, I took up adoption of Indian dogs. That’s how it actually started. I…

Around 800 BBMP computer operators have not been getting their salaries on time and haven’t seen their pay cheques for the last few months. 400 employees from this sector have now formed a employees union and protested in front of the BBMP office on July 10th. They submitted a memorandum to N Jayaram, BBMP Additional Commissioner (Administration).Currently, this workers' union is trying to form zonal committees and take up more localised issues. The workforce which drives most of the BBMP’s computerised operations are the contract labourers, handled by government companies of the likes of KEONICS (Karnataka State Electronics Development Corporation…

Team ‘Learning to Fly’ won the Ultimate Frisbee National Club tournament Final at Kanteerava Stadium in Bangalore on July 8th, 2012, organised by Karnataka Ultimate Players Association. Of the 24 teams participating from all over the country ‘Falcons’ and ‘Learning to Fly’ reached the final. In a mind boggling one hour, both teams fought tooth and nail for a win. It looked like it will be a tie with the 7-7. But ‘Learning to Fly’ snatched the winning score at the final moment.  Both teams were from namma Bengaluru. Ultimate Frisbee National Club tournament Final at Kanteerava Stadium in Bangalore…

Bengaluru has historically been known as a badminton stronghold for several decades now. It has been the proud home to the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy (PPBA) which has groomed several champions at all levels. One only needs to visit Lalbagh or Cubbon Park in the mornings to see several of Bangalore’s citizens engaged in casual but keenly contested badminton encounters. A badminton club in the city. Pic: Dharmendra D Where can you play? There are a number of private and public facilities in the city catering to badminton players of various age groups. Both casual and competitive players can find…

She calls herself a Jayanagar resident for 20 years now, but has resided in different localities across Bangalore, after shifting from Mumbai. A national award winner in journalism, Sakuntala Narasimhan, who is in her 70s, has authored several books on gender and music. She is also known for her activism on consumer rights. She is the only vocalist in the country who holds a grade ranking in both Carnatic and Hindustani classical music. She teaches music and travels quite a bit. Sakuntala Narasimhan - Journalist, author and musician. Pic: Anisha Nair You have won several awards in music. How has…